Furniture is not carved from a single block of wood or made in a single casting of metal. Instead it is made by interconnecting a plurality of component parts. The present invention concerns novel components to aid in assembling these parts. Nearly all furniture has legs which elevate a portion of the furniture which is of interest to a more convenient level. Although it is possible to construct a piece of furniture with a single leg unit, in practice there are usually two or more such units to support the piece of furniture.
Furniture is usually manufactured and shipped as separate components and later assembled by the ultimate consumer. In the case of tables, the table top is often attached to a frame assembly or to a rim. Generally, when a frame assembly is used, it is located underneath the table top and provides support and rigidity thereto. A rim is normally located around the perimeter of the table top. The legs typically reach the table top near the center and run radially from that point to the rim. This radial portion supports the table top and gives it rigidity.
Regardless of which support method is used, it is necessary to attach the legs to either the frame assembly or the rim. One approach used to secure the legs to the table top is to weld a threaded stud to the frame assembly or to the rim. A second bracket is attached to the furniture leg. This second bracket fits around the threaded stud and a nut is used to tighten the two pieces together.
There are several disadvantages to this design. The first is the extra manufacturing steps required to attach the threaded studs and corresponding brackets to the component parts. Second, since threaded studs are integrated into one or more component parts, additional steps need to be taken to protect the threads from paint dust during the painting process. If the threads are not protected during the process of painting the components, paint dust will settle in the threads and harden, rendering the threads useless. This protection often takes the form of coating the threads with plastic. This coating, however, necessitates either an additional manufacturing step to remove the plastic or leaving the plastic in the threads for the ultimate consumer to attempt to remove during assembly. In any case, before assembly the plastic must be removed because it fills the threads and prevents the nut from turning.
An older design uses legs with a "Y"-shaped upper portion which are inserted into a "U" bracket which is welded to the rim or frame assembly. The "Y"-shaped upper portion of the legs are designed to be slightly too wide to fit into the "U" bracket and therefore, prior to inserting them they must be compressed. Thereafter the legs are held in the "U" bracket under compression. This design makes assembly difficult and requires both strength and coordination on the part of the assembler.
Yet another known design uses friction to hold the leg into the table rim. In this design the rim has a "C" shaped cross-section with the opening facing inward. The top portion of the table leg is wedged into the opening. This design allows for a simpler manufacturing process, but does not provide a solid assembly.
The final known design welds or otherwise integrates a threaded hole into the top of the leg. A corresponding hole in the rim allows the table top to be attached to the leg. Although this allows for easy assembly because the threaded hole is integrated into one of the component parts, the threads necessitate an additional manufacturing step to protect them during the painting process. If a coating is used to protect the threads then an additional step to remove the plastic is required.
It is not unusual for a piece furniture to have a glass insert. Most designs do not secure the glass into the furniture, but instead provide a support and allow the glass insert to be held onto the support by gravity. In the event that the furniture is knocked on its side, the glass insert will fall out and perhaps shatter. The only known design which secures the glass insert into the furniture involves the use of horizontal ridges on the top of the furniture legs which support the glass. A rim piece goes around the edge of the glass insert and holds it down against the leg supports. The rim is attached to the legs with screws running through holes in the rim and into threaded holes in the legs. As discussed above, these threaded holes must be protected from paint dust when the component parts are being painted, and thus require at least one additional manufacturing step.
There is no known prior art which provides cushioning support for the glass insert in the event a heavy object is dropped on the glass or in the event that the table is knocked over.
Finally, there is no known prior art to reduce the noise caused when the table top flexes and contacts the rigid support frame.